Between Christianity and Judaism

Abstract Russia began to be integrated into the European economy from the fifteenth century. However, the spread of the Russian Empire and the coexistence within the same geographical space of representatives of different ethnic and religious groups and exposure to different religious practices resulted in the appearance of new religious groups. The official Orthodox Church prosecuted these groups, like the Judaizers who combined elements of Judaism and Christianity that suited their spiritual needs, perceiving them as heretics. This chapter examines the most famous of these groups, known under the general name of Subbotniks, a term applied to the wide variety of religious sects that observed Saturday as their holy day. Subbotniks were prosecuted by the Russian—and later the Soviet—state. Some of its members departed for Siberia, Central Asia, and the Far East, while others scattered around the globe.